South Florida Sun Sentinel
Mar 03, 2022 2:15 PM
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A funky irreverence rules at Riverside Market Cafe in Fort Lauderdale. And beer. (Alysia Naples/Courtesy)
Maybe your phone also got crushed this week from people from all over the country sending video of two Fort Lauderdale stops by Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy on his mega-popular One Bite Pizza Reviews tour.
The reviews, posted last weekend, showed us off pretty nicely, and not just pizza-wise.
His first stop was at The Pizza Spot in Riverside Park (601 SW 12th Ave.), which specializes in New Haven-style “a-pietz,” a venerated version of pizza that Portnoy grades on a very tough scale. The 7.4 he gave the pie — “Great taste, has the char that I love … it just needs the crisp” — was a win for The Pizza Spot owners Charrice Richardson and Wade Beecher.
Co-owner Charrice Richardson works the window taking orders at The Pizza Spot in Fort Lauderdale. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The next day, looking to finish the week with one more pie, he used an app to find pizza nearby and discovered Riverside Market right across the street.
The pizza at Riverside is one of my go-to side dishes with a beer or three. Portnoy found his slices dense, which has never been my experience, and the 7.1 score he applied — “This pizza’s good. Heavy. It’s good for beer. I like it a lot.” — felt off.
But the pizza was almost beside the point of his review. What he nailed, and seemed to fully appreciate, to the surprise of no one who has been there, was the atmosphere.
Standing out front in a Back to the Market T-shirt (“This shirt’s fire”) with owner Julian Siegel, Portnoy painted a picture of what he saw inside, marveling at the walls of 650 beers and the bar’s use of the honor system to pay for them.
He acknowledged the main draw at the Riverside: “People come for the people.”
“This place has so much character. It’s my favorite type of place,” Portnoy says. “It’s just one of those spots you have to visit, and be in it, and then know why people love it. … Also, this shirt’s fire.”
A week later, the YouTube review had more than 150,000 views and 4,000 likes, and Siegel says business is up 30 percent and the Back to the Market shirts are “flying off the shelf.”
Lucinda returns: I tripped across one of my favorite Lucinda Williams songs the other day on one of the SiriusXM stations, “The Temporary Nature of Every Precious Thing” an account of loss that gets down in your bones in the way her poetry will. The song is, of course, made even more poignant with her battle back from a stroke suffered in late 2020. Williams performs 8 p.m. Friday at The Parker in Fort Lauderdale, its beautifully restored acoustics the perfect match for her tender lyrics and her gravel-road rockers. Tickets start at $27.50 at ParkerPlayhouse.com. (Reminder, Lyle Lovett is on his way to the Parker on March 14.)
Weekend movies: Miami Dade College’s 39th annual Miami Film Festival opens on Friday with a red-carpet screening of “The Good Boss,” the critically lauded comedy-drama from Spain starring Javier Bardem. The film received a record-breaking 20 nominations at the 2022 Goya Awards, winning in six categories including Best Picture, and was Spain’s official submission for the 2022 Academy Awards. “The Good Boss” will screen 7p.m. Friday at Silverspot Cinema (300 SE Third St., Miami), preceded by a red carpet with the film’s director, Fernando León de Aranoa, and others. The Miami Film Festival runs through March 13, with both in-theater and virtual screenings. Prices range from $10 to $30. Visit MiamiFilmFestival.com.
More cowbull: Downtown hot spot the Wharf Fort Lauderdale will host its first whiskey festival on Friday called Whiskey Business (yes, they want you to think about Tom Cruise in his underwear). You’ll find more than 100 different brands, some live music and, because it’s the Wharf, you may enjoy your drink with ax throwing and a mechanical bull. Drink prices start at $5 at 5 p.m. and go up $1 every hour. Visit WharfFTL.com.
Ticket window: Grammy-winning rockers Greta Van Fleet will bring their Dreams in Gold Tour to Hard Rock Live at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood on Oct. 25, with tickets ($135, $105, $85, $65 and $55) on sale at noon Friday at MyHRL.com. A venue presale is scheduled to begin at noon Thursday via the Hard Rock’s Facebook and Twitter pages. The tour supports Greta’s sophomore album “The Battle at Garden’s Gate,” Top 10 on the Billboard 200, No. 1 in the Billboard Rock Albums chart. Visit GretaVanFleet.com.
You can still get tickets (starting at $51) for cult-y British indie rockers alt-J and Grammy winners Portugal. The Man (with special guest Sir Chloe) 7 p.m. Saturday at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. Visit MyHRL.com.
Cursive will finally bring their tour to the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale Saturday night with openers the Appleseed Cast and Nate Bergman. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Tickets cost $35, and those bought for the postponed Jan. 11 show will be honored. Visit CultureRoom.net.
Weekend burger: Fresh from its debut at the Red Stripe Burger Bash, part of the Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Capital One (or FNCCSBWFFPBCO, for short), Pincho’s Bougie Burger will be served in its South Florida restaurants through March and April. The burger layers a beef patty with smoked gouda cheese, crispy and grilled shallots, baby arugula, balsamic glaze and Pincho’s secret truffle black garlic aioli on a locally baked brioche bun. It costs $11. Not bad. A two-time winner of the festival’s people’s choice award in the burger category, Pincho has eight locations, including Sunrise (133 NW 136th Ave.) and Pembroke Pines (155 N. Hiatus Road). Visit Pincho.com.
Jake Owen is one of the headliners at New Country’s 103.1 Rib Round-up in West Palm Beach on Saturday. (Kevin Winter / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images)
Toes-in-the-grass music: New Country’s 103.1 Rib Round-up returns to iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach at noon Saturday, with a stellar list of country favorites including Florida-grown Jake Owen and Jimmie Allen, reigning CMA New Artist of the Year, Luke Combs’ beer-drinking buddy Jameson Rodgers and Jimmy Buffett-Kenny Chesney protégé Caroline Jones. Lawn tickets start at $41. Visit NewCountry1031.com.
‘Black Hole’ Saturday: This may be the weekend to see the Chris Cornell tribute band Audioecho, which sets up 8 p.m. Saturday at Mathews Brewing in Lake Worth. I haven’t seen them yet either, but hear they bring it in a big way. Admission is free. Visit Facebook.com/mathewsbrewing.
The Weekender – South Florida Events Newsletter
Weekly
Get a roundup of the best events and things to do in South Florida so you can make it an epic weekend.
Marleys all over: Beginning at noon Saturday at the ArtsPark in downtown Hollywood, the Maestro Marley Cup is a 7-on-7 soccer tournament surrounded by a Caribbean food and music festival with reggae royalty scheduled to perform, including Ky-Mani Marley, Damian Marley, Stephen Marley, Julian Marley, Joe Mersa Marley, Yellowman and others. Advance general-admission tickets cost $30, with proceeds helping Ky-Mani Marley’s Love Over All Foundation. Visit MaestroMarleycup.com.
Dog walk: The 32nd annual VCA Walk for the Animals, a benefit for the Humane Society of Broward County, will take place in downtown Fort Lauderdale at 10 a.m. Saturday, with vendor booths and entertainment set up at Huizenga Plaza (32 E. Las Olas Blvd.). Registration for the 1.25-mile walk begins at 8 a.m. Raise $150 (there are virtual fundraising options) and you’ll get the official T-shirt. Visit Walk4theAnimals.com.
Sui generis: If you saw the buzzed-about exhibition dedicated to fashion designer Anna Sui at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale last year, you may have noticed the section that paid homage to one of Sui’s role models, famed fashion rebel Barbara Hulanicki. Her shop, Biba, was the “it” spot for celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Brigitte Bardot when they were looking to perfect the Mod look in ‘60s and ‘70s London. On Sunday, Sui and Hulanicki will sit down for a remarkable conversation at the museum from 2 to 3 p.m. Admission is free with museum admission ($12, military $8, high school and college students $5, younger than 12 free). Visit NSUArtMuseum.org.
Shade-tree brunch: The monthly Sunday Jazz Brunch on the shady banks of the New River in downtown Fort Lauderdale seems, anecdotally, to be drawing a younger crowd these days, probably drawn to the opportunities for dog walking and champagne drinking and picnicking under a tree than the music. Which is fine. The free monthly event, which unfurls east along the river from Esplanade Park, returns 11 a.m.-2 p.m. this Sunday with FAU Jazz Orchestra, the Randy Corinthian Quintet and the Mary Tannenger Trio. Visit Parks.FortLauderdale.gov.
